Honda has gathered a who’s who of motoring talent for its Type R Time Attack 2018 challenge. The goal? To set new records at racetracks around Europe in the award-winning 2017 Honda Civic Type R.

Although the full line-up is yet to be finalised, Honda has confirmed that former Formula One World Champion and current NSX Super GT driver Jenson Button will be taking to the track in hopes of setting new front-wheel-drive lap time benchmarks. He’ll be joined by World Touring Car Championship drivers Tiago Monteiro and Esteban Guerrieri, and NSX Super GT star Bertrand Baguette.

A similar challenge in 2016 saw the previous-generation Civic Type R tumble lap-time records at Silverstone (UK), Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium), Monza (Italy), Estoril (Portugal) and Hungaroring (Hungary). The drivers that year included big names from the British Touring Car Championship and World Touring Car Championship.

For the 2018 edition, Honda has its sights set on Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps and Estoril, with further tracks to be announced.

With Honda’s new hot hatch the fastest-accelerating (0-62mph in 5.7 seconds) and quickest (169mph) in its class – not to mention the latest addition to the Type R line-up – it’d take a brave man or woman to bet against it.

Powered by a 2.0-litre VTEC TURBO engine, the new Honda Civic Type R offers a peak power output of 320 PS at 6,500 rpm, and peak torque of 400 Nm from 2,500 rpm to 4,500 rpm.

In April 2017, a production development car became the fastest front-wheel drive production car ever around the Nürburgring Nordschleife, with a lap time of 7 minutes, 43.8 seconds. Watch the car in action below.

Honda should really stop with that video. I can't even count how many times of the gear grind I heard .... Not to mention the real
Time is 8.01 same with an M2

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Different cars, different drivers, different days, different conditions, XdifferentX tires ... one time is as real, or as meaningless, as the other.
Correction: same tires. Evidently Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2's are optionally? fitted to Type R's in Germany.

I mean just because they got a different time doesn't mean the video is fake. I mean I would assume the track wouldn't let honda cheat or anything and ruin the reputation they have. I would just think it was different days with different drivers, different cars. So I'd imagine different results.

You realize the list of differences between the two?? They could have had the same car and driver and the weather still can make a huge difference. The ring is almost 13 miles long a 17 second gap difference on that track can be as simple as a temperature change or if the car started to overheat. Never mind I doubt you can’t compare who Honda has testing the car to this third party.. Honda had a F1 driver in it

Different cars, different drivers, different days, different conditions, XdifferentX tires ... one time is as real, or as meaningless, as the other.
Correction: same tires. Evidently Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2's are optionally? fitted to Type R's in Germany.

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I completely agree. There is this thing in speech and writing called nuance. The Honda factory time isn't fake, it's just not as realistic a measure, to compare with talented track day drivers, as the sport auto time is. Honda's competing with the Golf Cup for the FWD record, do you thing the VW factory time is like Honda's time or Sport Auto's time? (it's like Honda's time, also under super super ideal conditions) But yes, the sport auto time is a "better" measure to compare cars against. 8:01 from Sport Auto is simply amazing.

Wait so I'm confused. Is the 7:43 lap time not "official"? How are independent third party tests more official than one done by the manufacturer? Is there some kind of official site that lists these times?

Wait so I'm confused. Is the 7:43 lap time not "official"? How are independent third party tests more official than one done by the manufacturer? Is there some kind of official site that lists these times?

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The 7:43 is "official," however, it was likely done just after a race weekend so there's lots of rubber on the track and there might have been icing of the intercooler or other magic tricks to get the car to work well, (fair and perhaps slightly unfair) that Honda knows about, but we don't. That doesn't make it "fake" or not "real."

However, it can also be interesting to look at independent tests because those numbers might be more "real" in some way. Sport Auto is a great magazine that does this. For instance, the 2016 Porsche GT4 was said by Porsche to do "about 7:40" at the ring. Sport Auto did 7:42. For the CTR, Sport Auto did 8:01. So what's more useful? Well if you listen to Porsche and Honda (about 7:40 and 7:43), then the GT4 is only 3 seconds faster than the CTR, because Porsche was more conservative with their number. Is that true? No, not really at all. The Sport Auto times say it should be a 19 second gap (7:42 vs. 8:01). That's more realistic.

I completely agree. There is this thing in speech and writing called nuance. The Honda factory time isn't fake, it's just not as realistic a measure, to compare with talented track day drivers, as the sport auto time is. Honda's competing with the Golf Cup for the FWD record, do you thing the VW factory time is like Honda's time or Sport Auto's time? (it's like Honda's time, also under super super ideal conditions) But yes, the sport auto time is a "better" measure to compare cars against. 8:01 from Sport Auto is simply amazing.